The Kyoto Crystallographic Computing School aims to bring together developers and users interested in looking beyond the interface. The school is structured to foster the exchange of ideas via formal lectures, afternoon tutorials, coding challenges and code comparison sessions.
During the first conference on crystallographic computing held at the Pennsylvania State College, USA in April 1950, Ray Pepinsky's introduction noted that solving the major computing problems would "require many minds. Our aim here is to share what we know - to cross-pollinate our minds."

Currently, there is a wide range of crystallographic software under development, including larger community projects such as Clipper/CCP4, CCTBX/Phenix, DANSE, and Age Concern. These do not only develop new methods, but also harvest the knowledge of previous generations.

The Kyoto Crystallographic Computing School invites the world-wide crystallographic community (including macro- and small-molecule crystallography, powder diffraction, and small-angle scattering) to an intensive session of working together and learning from each other.

Thanks to support from sponsors, we have been able to keep the registration cost (including accommodation and meals) below 70,000 YEN (ca. 430 EUR, 665 USD). The number of attendees is limited to 80 students. For more information visit the web site above.
The registration deadline is July 25th, 2008.

The 6th International Conference on Borate Glasses, Crystals and Melts

August 18-22, 2008
Egret Himeji, Hyogo, Japan

Organizer:

Dr. Norimasa Umesaki (JASRI/SPring-8) (Chair)

International Organizing Committee:

Adrian C. Wright (UK)

Alexis Clare (USA)

Yanko Dimitriev (Bulgaria)

Giuseppe Dalba (Italy)

Natalia M. Vedishcheva (Russia)

Alex Hannon (UK)

Efstratius Kamitsos (Greece)

Doris Ehrt (Germany)

Josef W. Zwanziger (Canada)

Steven A. Feller (USA)

The 6th International Conference on BORATE GLASSES, CRYSTALS AND MELTS follows the previous meetings held at Alfred, New York, USA (1977); Abingdon, England (1996); Sofia, Bulgaria (1999); Cedar Rapids, USA (2002) and Trento, Italy (2005). The conference will be dedicated to Professor Adrian C. Wright in order to honor his achievements in the Glass Science and in particular Borate Glasses. This conference is also recognized as a satellite meeting of the 21st Congress of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr2008, August 23-31 2008, Osaka, Japan).
Topics covered will include, but are not limited, to the following: Short and intermediate range order in borate glasses and melts; Structure and physical properties; Computer simulation and modeling; Phase separation and inhomogeneities; New spectroscopic techniques; EPR, XAFS, XPS, IR, NMR, and diffraction studies of borates; Novel borate glasses and crystals; Mineralogical crystals; Local thermal properties; Thermodynamics of borate systems; Industrial applications of borate and borosilicate glasses; Biomedical applications; Optical properties and materials; Superionic systems and ionic conductivity

Instrumentation and experimental techniques related to the following topics:
Applications of ASAXS in the structure of nanocomposites / Applications of GISAXS on thin films / Applications of XPCS and neutron spin echo on dynamics / Systems under flow and time resolved studies / Applications of scanning microbeam SAS / New Modeling methods of SAS / X-ray and neutron imaging - comparison with scattering / Advances in the studies of biological materials by SAXS and SANS / New Japanese neutron source

Combination of XAFS and diffraction techniques are important for the structure analysis of metal proteins, nanomaterials and catalysts. The purpose of the meeting is to give the general introduction and analysis tutorials to crystallographers who are beginners of XAFS techniques.
The meeting contains 1) general introduction of XAFS, 2) Theory of XAFS, 3) How to analyze EXAFS and practice, 4) Tour in Photon Factory, 5) Applications of XAFS

During the past decade a certain concrete progress has been made in the field of organic small crystals. To evaluate and facilitate the growth of this emerging field in both science and technology, present status of fabrication, characterization, chemistry, applications etc. of organic micro- and nano-crystals will be presented mainly by invited speakers. Poster session will be held on demand.

In view of the important opportunity, that will gather together crystallographers coming from all over the world to the IUCr, in recognition of the importance of teaching crystallography for the research community, and responding a large interest in the topics related to teaching, the Program Committee has allocated much time for discussing problems related to education. In addition to three MS (see the Program), a special will be dedicated specially to teaching.
All key-note lecturers from the IUCr Congress, the MS speakers, chairs and co-chairs, as well as the members of the Program Committee are allowed and even welcome to speak at the Workshop. There are no restrictions for the participation in the Workshop also for any of the key-note lecturers, MS speakers, chairs and co-chairs, as well as the members of the Program Committee from the previous IUCr Meetings. In this way we really hope, that a great number of names, who would otherwise be excluded from the list on the formal basis, would contribute.
As tentative topics for the Workshop, we suggest "Teaching crystallography for non-crystallographers" ("Crystallography and Chemical Bonding", "Crystallography and Pharmaceuticals", "Crystallography and New Materials") and "Teaching Advanced Crystallography for Experts" ("Teaching Diffuse Scattering", "Teaching Crystallography of Modulated Structures"). Other suggestions are most welcome.

Aimed at initiating a wide-ranging debate on new routes for the effective and efficient dissemination of the ever-increasing volume of crystallographic raw and results data, as a complementary approach to the conventional route of publication of scientific journal articles, this event is aimed at:

a)

raising awareness of innovative procedures under development for data dissemination and the new opportunities they can provide for publication,

b)

enabling groups working in the area to compare approaches and develop a unified strategy for data management, including publication and preservation and

The special session is newly scheduled in the evening on August 26, 2008, the 3rd day of the scientific program of the Congress. The intrinsic beauty of crystal and its symmetry inspires artists, while the crystallographic understanding of the beauty of art has been achieved after the great effort. Interesting topics will be presented in an enjoyable evening atmosphere. Its program will appear shortly.

Cooperated by Japan Inter-Society Liaison Association Committee for Promoting Equal Participation of Men and Women in Science and Engineering (EPMEWSE)

The IUCr2008 Congress is a fortunate opportunity to talk about problems surrounding crystallographers. The event titled as “Future of Female Crystallographers” is arranged as an evening session on August 26.
All participants, ladies, gentlemen, students and senior scientists, are welcomed.
The first half will proceed in the lecture style, where five speakers will provide the subjects.
The latter half will be the mixer with snack and drink. Please talk deep into the subjects with the speakers. For young scientists, it will be a good chance to discuss with experienced scientists on their science. We hope that all participants do promote the mutual understanding and return with a great encouragement.

Registration Fee: Free

18:30 – 19:00

Registration

Pre-mixer (Sandwich boxes and juice are prepared.)

19:00 – 19:05

Opening Address

Tamiko Kiyotani (Chair)

19:05 – 19:15

Introductory Speech

Akio Takenaka (The President of CrSJ)

Yuji Ohashi (The President of IUCr)

19:15 – 21:00

Session

Chair: Satoshi Sasaki

(1)

Recent Activities for Promoting Women Scientists in Japan

Kazue Kurihara (Japan)

Chair: Midori Kamimura

(2)

The Multi-tasking Female Crystallographers

Jenny P. Glusker (U.S.A.)

(3)

Women in Science.. ..a Global Opportunity

Judith A. K. Howard (U.K.)

Chair: Akiko Sekine

(4)

Experiences in Protein Crystallography: From the early days to the present time

Irene Margiolaki (France)

(5)

Gender Diversity at the ESRF

Irene Margiolaki (France)

21:00 – 21:30

Mixer (Snacks and drinks are prepared.)

21:30 – 21:35

Closing Address

Nobutada Tanaka

If you are interested in joining the session, please send an E-mail to the contact person till Aug.11, 2008. The number is limited to 200.

Subject: IUCr2008-FFC
Contents: First name and last name, title (Prof., Dr., Mr., Ms.), affiliation, and E-mail address should be included.
Contact person: Tamiko Kiyotani (E-mail: kiyotani@ac.shoyaku.ac.jp)

We hope your quick contact for the sake of arrangements.

Evening Session: Open Forum

The lectures of past IUCr Presidents and the valuable experiments of specialist are open to the public for the citizens and young students.

Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, University of Illinois at Chicago. Chicago, IL. USA, 60607

The team composed of a practicing crystallographer (co-playwright Cele Abad-Zapatero), a professional writer (co-playwright Jill Campbell) and a play director (Gregory Gerhard) is pleased to present to the crystallographic community the world premi_re screening of a documentary during IUCr2008 on August 27, at 6:30 pm, B-05SH, centered around the creation, development and staging of the play Bernal's Picasso. The premi_re staged reading of the play was produced at Argonne National Laboratory during User's Week conference on May 4th2008. Details can be found at http://www.aps.anl.gov/Users/Meeting/2008/Picasso/index.php.

The play centers around the mural drawn by Picasso in 1950 at the flat of the iconic crystallographer J.D. Bernal at 21 Torrington Square, during his historical meeting with the world-famous artist, on the occasion of the failed second world peace conference in Sheffield, UK. The meeting allows the main characters to explore the interconnections, similarities and differences between Science and Art.

Because of its high visual content, crystallography occupies a unique position in the science-art interface. The documentary and the play aim to explore this unique position of crystallography using the play as a pivot point to educate the public in the foundations of crystallography, pay homage to some of its most significant figures and to set the ground for a dialog between the sciences and the arts as key components of the human spirit.
The generous support of the IUCr, APS, ACA, Bruker AXS Inc., Minarik Co., Princeton Inst., Varian Inc. and several collaborative access teams (CATs: CARS, GM/CA, IMCA, BioCAT, SGX) to this project is greatly appreciated.